SAN JOSE — This is one the Wilcox football team will savor, at least for a while.
In what has developed into a budding tradition, Wilcox and Valley Christian met in a season opener Friday for the sixth consecutive fall season. Valley had won four of the previous five. But on this occasion it was Wilcox with its big-play running game scoring three third-quarter touchdowns on the way to a 35-13 victory.
Needless to say, a three-touchdown margin of victory by a public school over a West Catholic Athletic League traditional power doesn’t take place too often. Wilcox’s one previous win over Valley was by a 10-6 score in 2018.
“We’ll take it,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “You never know if it will happen again.”
“It’s huge,” running back Andrew Palacios said. “Last year, we made mental mistakes. To have an older team this year is huge and it showed tonight.”
Palacios set the tone with an 81-yard touchdown run on Wilcox’s second play from scrimmage. He took a handoff on a typical blast play out of the veer, appeared to be stopped after a short gain but broke loose to the left and took it all the way.
Valley Christian, meanwhile, controlled the clock with not a whole lot to show for it. The first quarter ended with Wilcox up 7-0 despite the Warriors having run 19 plays to Wilcox’s two.
When Valley scored on a 17-yard pass from Jonathan Craft to Kai Hamilton to conclude a 13-play, 80-yard drive with 9:29 left in the second quarter, the play differential had grown to 23-2.
Wilcox responded with a long drive of its own to take a 14-7 lead at halftime.
“They did a good job of eating the clock in the first half,” Rosa said. “We only had two possessions. They might be down a little but they’re still big, strong and fast.”
Momentum swung the way of the Chargers in the third quarter when Elijah Diallo Walker returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. They added two more TDs before the quarter ended on 1-yard runs by Palacios and Kalil Marshall to extend their lead to 35-7.
Numbers were down to such an extent for Valley Christian last year that the program was unable to field a junior varsity team. That’s no longer the case. Head coach Mike Machado said he has 41 on the varsity, 35 on the junior varsity and 48 on the freshman team this year.
“We’re not going to cry poor,” he said. “Covid was tough for us but we’re going to learn from it.”
Palacios was the leading ground gainer in the game with 139 yards on 10 carries to pace Wilcox, which had 269 yards rushing on 30 carries.
Marcel Leggett Jr. had 80 yards for the Warriors on 13 carries while wingback Uchenna Eke gained 75 yards on 19 attempts. The team totalled 215 yards on 45 carries.
“I like our guys and we’re going to work hard every day to get better,” Machado said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com